#;--;

[weevmo]

EYE CAN BARELY BELIEVE THE NEW EPISODE IS TODAY *APPLAUSE*

[ghostgrlonfirst]

these chapters are getting so long i'm actually going to need to find a beta reader... ah

[fandaterri]

I LOVE

[good-beanswrites]

I’m definitely getting jumped for this one but all of the milgram prisoners on a elevator to heaven but it slowly starts going down to hell and they all panic

Zosiaaaaa, haven’t we had enough angst this trial already 😭 (Alright, but, this was really fun to think about :3 I didn’t join the putting-characters-into-situations hobby for nothing >:3) 

“Haruka-chan? Are you awake?” Mahiru’s hand shook him gently from sleep.

“Give him some space.”

“I am!”

Haruka blinked up at them, eyes bleary. “Oh! Um. Are you two – are you two getting married?”

He’d never seen a wedding dress up close before. It was silky and sparkling. Shidou was also dressed in white, but a fancier outfit than the coat Haruka usually saw him in.

Mahiru giggled. “It looks cute, doesn’t it? But no, no, we’re not.”

“We don’t know why we’re here, or where here is.” He gestured to the tiny room they found themselves in. Its walls were made of plain but quality wood paneling, with accents of gold. “Shiina-kun and I only woke minutes ago.”

“Let me help you up~”

His hand froze before taking hers. “Y-your arm!”

She beamed. “It’s all better! In fact, everything feels better! Isn’t that wonderful?” 

“Oh! I feel good too…”

Shidou’s gut twisted at the mention. He was far less excited about his own miraculous healing. He knew the human body well, and the utter lack of scars or markings from his injury was too good to be true. In his profession, that meant it definitely was. Combined with the clothes and strange location, it could only mean one thing. 

He was still working out how to gently explain the situation to Mahiru. Though certain patients always took the message better than others, Shidou had never had to break this kind of news post-death. 

He’d planned on keeping the information to himself until he processed it himself, but Haruka put the pieces together quickly. His expression dropped. “D-does that mean…?”

For the first time, Mahiru’s smile faltered. 

Shidou nodded. “I believe so.” 

Before any of them could speak, a panel that certainly wasn’t there a moment ago flashed on one of the walls. Ten lights lit up in even rows. They brought everyone’s attention to another new addition: a split running down the center of the adjacent wall.

“An elevator!”

Closer inspection revealed there were no labels or numbers to mark the destinations, or even where they stood now. All perfectly uniform in shape, it didn’t look like any of the buttons could open the door for them.

A remarkably mundane ding sent the elevator into motion. 

Haruka was the first to state the obvious, alarm rapidly rising up in his throat. “W-why are we going down?”

Mahiru had gone as pale as her dress. Shidou felt a tugging at his gut, though he refused to give into the initial panic. 

Haruka whipped back to face them. “Why? Why? Shouldn’t we be going up? Should- shouldn’t –” His breath hitched.

Shidou swallowed hard. His voice came out more unsure than the others had ever heard. “Different systems of belief have a variety of spatial arrangements for the afterlife, you know. Some religions believe all pathways after death exist under the earth.” 

“B-but we don’t believe those.”

“Are either of you spiritual?”

“I don’t, um. I don’t know? My mom talked about God…”

It was reassuring – that made an even split, as he didn’t believe in any sort of heaven or hell. His hopes were immediately dashed upon glancing at Mahiru. 

Her hands clasped together, brought up to her face. She knew she should be strong for the others, especially for a kid like Haruka, but even her knuckles pressed firmly over her lips didn’t do much to stop her crying. 

She just kept thinking back to her written interrogation in the first trial,  when everything was more exciting than it was horrifying, when they were all getting to know each other and could call one another friends, when she hadn’t realized just how relevant the answer she’d penned out really was.

What do you think happens when people die?

They go to heaven!

Shidou finally let himself worry.

Haruka threw himself toward the opposite wall to click the top rows of buttons. They didn’t so much as flicker, even when he began pounding on them with his full fist. He punched at the wall until his knees gave out under him, and he was left groveling on the floor below the buttons. 

“I… I’m scared.”

Mahiru spun to face the corner. With her face hidden, her tears finally fell.

“I thought this dress was for him, but… oh.”

Shidou folded his hands behind his back. He drove the images of his family from his mind. He wouldn’t be seeing them any time soon. 

“How ironic. Even if her reasoning was nothing but childishness, she was correct in the end...”

All they could do was wait there, each lost in their own thoughts, anticipating when the doors would open.

[picardstea]

“With respect, Admiral, you once told me to listen to my emotions, not be guided by them. If this is about Chakotay, you are being guided by them right now.”

[massgrav]

Just saw The Kiss by Joel-Peter Witkin and was HEAVILY reminded of your work.

It's a beautiful compliment, thank you so much. I'm honoured my humble scribbles reminded you of this wonderful piece

[lilacandladybugs]

,,

[tiledis]

any broadchurch fic recs? <3

OMG I didn’t expect anyone would ask me question, I’m worried if my suggestions will suit you? My English is poor, I hope you don’t mind

It might be a bit confusing because my tastes are a little all over the place. I pretty much like reading all kinds of fic, so if you let me know what type of stories you like, maybe I can give more targeted recommendations

Although I’m not romantically invested in Millardy, I do read related fics, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many of them are really well-written. I really enjoy the feeling that everyone has their own interpretation of the characters and their relationships

One Millardy fic I really like is Mr and Mrs Fawley by penfairy. In this fic, Miller and Hardy pose as a couple while undercover to catch drug dealers, and things keep escalating

I enjoy fics that portray Miller and Hardy as a queerplatonic relationship, with lots of short stories. Like Your Heart Works Just Fine But It's Still Broken

I’ve also written a few silly little stories myself, but they’re in Chinese, and I shamelessly put them here in case you’re interested

Or if you’re interested in Alec Hardy’s asexual exploration, like Recalibrating

I’ve also read a lot of Alec Hardy Whump. If you’re interested in this, I can recommend more, but the last one I read was Friends and Foes, where Alec Hardy is covered in awful writing by an unknown person

As for supplements and extensions to the original work— nannyogg123’s A Million Holes Poked In The Soul is a very long and heartbreaking fic that fills in and imagines many stories that weren’t written in the show, especially regarding the Sandbrook case

princeloww’s Twenty-Five Decembers is my recent favorite. It tells the story of Alec Hardy’s 25 consecutive Christmases, from the toxic influence of his father to his meeting and parting with Tess. It’s sometimes very sweet, sometimes extremely painful—especially when you know how it ends. What I really appreciate about this fic is that very few fics portray Tess in such a positive light, and I think it’s done really well

I also really like Broken Heart. It’s almost entirely a depiction of Alec Hardy’s state of mind in the show. This one is in Chinese, and the writing is really good. I’m not sure if it would maintain its vibe after translation, though